Our projects cover a multidisciplinary, but coherent approach directed toward an understanding of unconventional viral dementias and their relationship to "non infectious" dementias (e.g. Alzheimer's disease). Experimental CJD rodent models will be used to evaluate critical events during infection and progression of disease. Biochemical and genetic studies in parallel with morphological and infectivity studies are here proposed. We continue our search for true agent-specific (non-host) molecules (protein and nucleic acid). We also hope to define probes that will be of use in studies of Alzheimer's disease as well as in CJD. Such probes will facilitate comparisons of infectious dementias with those of unknown etiology, and will be used to analyze both experimental rodent material and precious human specimen of CJD, GSS and AD.